Auckland women charge into semifinals
Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury and North Harbour will battle it out in the semifinals of the women’s interprovincial golf tournament.
Auckland came through division one undefeated, dropping just 2.5 points all week at the Sherwood Park Golf Club in Northland.
That included a resounding 4.5-0.5 win over Wellington yesterday morning, ending the latter’s hopes of making the semifinals. That second spot went to North Harbour instead, who beat Northland 3.5-1.5 in a loser-goes-home contest.
On the other side of the draw, Canterbury finished top, despite losing 4-1 to Bay of Plenty. Olive Tapu recorded what proved to be a vital 2up win, which meant they finished 1.5 points above BOP, ensuring they avoided playing Auckland in Friday morning’s semifinals. The final will be played on Friday afternoon.
The men’s competition remains up in the air, with plenty of teams still in contention for a semifinals spot when the final two roundrobin matches are played today.
Division one sees five teams separated by just 4.5 points, although two, Northland and Aorangi, have byes this morning.
Waikato lead the division on 15.5, but have tough matches against second-placed Auckland and fourth-placed Wellington which will play a huge part in deciding the semifinalists.
Wellington slipped up yesterday, recording a halving their match against strugglers Manawatu-Wanganui, while Auckland beat Northland 3-2, Waikato defeated BOP 3.5-1.5 and Aorangi were 3.5-1.5 winners over Tasman.
North Harbour’s young side continued on their merry way with another good win against Taranaki, which moved them top of division two.
Otago had a slight hiccup when halving their match against Poverty Bay-East Coast respectively. This could come back to bite them later in the week, but only time will tell.
It was a day to forget for the mainlanders with Canterbury suffering a big loss to Hawkes Bay 4-1, who have been superb this week to sit second going into today, although they have a bye in the afternoon which could let either Otago or Canterbury back in for a semifinal spot.